AMERICA’S TALL SHIP MAKES SECOND OF TWO VISITS TO SAN JUAN

Jun 14th, 2007 · Comments Off on AMERICA’S TALL SHIP MAKES SECOND OF TWO VISITS TO SAN JUAN

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Coast Guard Barque EAGLE, “America’s Tall Ship,” is scheduled to arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday at 10 a.m. and stay through Monday.

This is EAGLE’s second port call to San Juan Harbor since its’ last visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico last May.

While in port, the EAGLE will be moored in Pier 1 west, and will be offering free public tours. These tours of the 295-foot three-masted sailing vessel will be available to the public:

2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Friday

2:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday

12 p.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday

In the time EAGLE is underway this year, from April to October, it will travel more than 4,651 miles while visiting ports including Bridgetown, Barbados, Cartagena, Colombia and Vera Cruz, Mexico.

The EAGLE, the only square-rigged sailing ship in the United States government service, was originally commissioned the HORST WESSEL in 1936 by Nazi Germany where it was one of three training ships used to train German navy cadets.

Taken as a war prize by the United States in 1946 and renamed, the EAGLE now allows the Coast Guard’s future officers to apply the navigation, engineering, and leadership training they receive in the classroom at the Coast Guard Academy to real-life challenges on the sea.

The 71-year-old EAGLE has a 1,824-ton steel hull, 21,350 square feet of sails and more than six miles of rigging.